Gigi left the hotel and drove straight to her favorite hidden beach on the island’s west side. She took her beach chair from the trunk and found a spot in the shade under an overhang of rocks. Chloe had told her about this place weeks ago, and it had since become Gigi’s go-to place when she needed to be alone.
She flipped through the script that Matilda had given them for the final episode. People were often surprised to learn how much of the show was scripted by the team of writers who helped to bring structure to each episode. The two of them were encouraged to add their own flair to whatever the writers came up with, and that flair was where they found the sweet spot that made the show so popular.
Suddenly, tears filled her eyes and threatened to spill down her cheeks at the thought of leaving Gansett next Tuesday. Tears infuriated Gigi. They were for weak people, and she wasn’t weak. She prided herself on being the strongest person she knew, and she refused to let one summer change everything about who she was.
Jordan liked her with Cooper, saw something different in her when she was with him, and Gigi couldn’t deny that she felt the same thing. But that didn’t mean she had to turn her entire life upside down to accommodate him.
You wouldn’t have to, her inner voice said. He’s already told you he’ll go wherever you want to be in the off-season as long as he can come back to Gansett to run his business next summer. And you wouldn’t hate coming back here every summer, where Jordan, Nikki and Evelyn are.
Everything in her yearned for a life that looked just like the one he’d suggested for them, if only she could make herself take the extraordinary risk that’d be required to let him all the way in.
“Hey, is this seat taken?” Chloe asked as she parked her chair next to Gigi’s.
Appalled to have nearly been caught weeping over a man, Gigi rallied with a smile for the exotically beautiful Chloe Dennis. “It is now.”
“Sorry to barge in on your peace and quiet. I had an hour free and came right here.”
“I’m glad you did.”
“You guys aren’t filming today?”
Gigi shook her head. “We finish the season over the next few days.”
“Oh wow. That was quick, although I’m sure it didn’t feel quick to you guys.”
“The summer went by fast.”
“It always does. The winter is endless, and the summer just flies.”
“How’re you feeling?”
Chloe had recently suffered a serious flare-up of her rheumatoid arthritis that had put her out of commission for days—the same days that the power had failed on the island.
“I’m much better than I was. Thanks for asking.”
“I hate that you suffer like that.”
“It truly sucks, but it sucks less than it did before I had Finn to take care of me.”
“It’s sweet of him to do that.”
“It really is, and it was hard for me to allow him to do it at first, until I realized a man like him doesn’t do anything he doesn’t want to do. You know?”
“Yeah,” Gigi said, thinking of Cooper, who could certainly be categorized the same way. “I know what you mean.”
“How’s it going with Cooper?”
“Does the whole island know we’ve been seeing each other, or does it just seem that way?”
“When you nearly roll a Porsche off the bluffs on your first date, word tends to get around.”
Gigi groaned. “That was all his fault. He wanted a selfie with me and the car.”
“The man is only human, and you’re Gigi Gibson.”
“Oh hush,” Gigi said.
Laughing, Chloe said, “The poor guy is crazy about you. Anyone can see that.”
“He’s a nice guy.”
“Yes, he is, and they can be hard to find. Just ask me. I spent years looking for one before I gave up, convinced they were all a bunch of dogs. Then Finn McCarthy stepped into my salon and showed me there’re still a few good ones in this world.”
“I’m happy for you that you found him—or he found you.”
“I’m happy we found each other.” Chloe glanced at her, seeming tentative all of a sudden. “I hope you don’t mind that I know a little of your story.”
Gigi shrugged, accustomed now to people knowing things about her that she would’ve preferred to keep private. But celebrity didn’t work that way. “I’m an open book.”
“I was a product of the foster system, too. My father killed my mother and then himself.”
“Oh my God, Chloe. I’m so sorry.”
“Thanks, but it was a lifetime ago. It doesn’t define me. Not anymore.”
Gigi’s mind raced as she tried to process what Chloe had told her.
“I’m only telling you this because I understand the spot you’re in with Cooper.”
Gigi was almost afraid to ask. “What spot is that?”
“You like him—a lot—but you’re not sure you have it in you to take a chance on what he has the potential to be to you.”
Staring at Chloe, she said, “How do you know that?”
“Because I’ve been right where you are. Not that long ago, in fact. I tried really hard to resist what was happening with Finn. I’d taken care of myself for so long that I’d forgotten how to let someone else in.”
Gigi understood that all too well.
“Plus, I’m dealing with this damned RA situation that could seriously impact my future—and his—and I tried to talk him out of loving me.”
“What did he do?”
“He kept showing up and proving to me over and over again that I could put my faith in him, and he’d never let me down. He proved that in a big way during this latest flare-up. He was a rock.”
“I’m happy for you that you guys managed to work things out. Anyone can see he’s crazy about you.”
“We can see the same with your Cooper.”
“He’s not my Cooper!”
“Isn’t he, though, Gigi?” Chloe asked, her tone gentle.
The question broke something inside Gigi, leaving her raw and unprotected against the feelings she had for him.
“You don’t want it. I get that better than anyone else ever could. I realized I was projecting the bullshit from my past onto Finn, expecting him to be like my dad was, which was totally fucked up and unfair to him. He’s nothing like my dad, and he’s never going to be anything other than what he is—perfect for me.”
Freaking tears spilled down Gigi’s cheeks, despite her fierce desire to contain them and the emotions causing them.
Chloe put her hand on top of Gigi’s. “I totally get it, Gigi. I really do.”
Gigi turned her hand up to lightly clasp Chloe’s. Her knuckles were red and swollen and painful looking.
“It’s a big risk when you come from what we do to take a chance on people.”
“I spent most of my life in a gilded mansion in Beverly Hills,” Gigi said. “You had it much harder than I did.”
“I heard how you emancipated from your adopted parents, which probably means not everything in that Beverly Hills mansion was gilded.”
“No, it wasn’t.”